Heartbeat
by Shirafor
Summary: Before her heart gave up, his did. Reviews are very appreciated.


**Author's Notes: ** Hey everybody! Finally, summer's rolling around, school's coming to a close, and it looks like I might be able to reclaim my life! Plus hopefully get to work on all the stories I've got running circles in my head.

This is just something that's been fermenting on my computer for... maybe... 3 or 4 months, can't remember. I'd just added bit by bit, whenever I felt like it. I don't have the utmost confidence in it, but it's definitely the best thing I've put on this site. (not saying much ;)

Also, I don't claim to entirely understand Ai, so anything that is off you can blame me. I mainly wanted to write this to get a little closer to understanding the girl, and I believe I did that.

So enjoy!

Oh yeah, Conan is not mine. ; (

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* * *

**

**Hearbeat**

**- **

Ai was not a happy girl.

To say that she was annoyed with that boy was an understatement. Yet, at the same time, it made her happy to see him in such high spirits. But why should she be happy? He was endangering everybody around him by doing this, and for what? A simple visit to a friend? She just couldn't understand it…

Conan had recently been begging her for another temporary antidote. The reason? He needed to talk to Ran, or so he said. Haibara kept telling him no, that it could raise suspicions from the Black Organization or it might kill him. These risks far outweighed the potentials of talking to his girlfriend. Besides, she reasoned, if he really wanted to talk to her, couldn't he just call her on the phone? And, after a bit more useless complaining from him, she'd convince him to keep waiting. But Conan would make sure first thing the next morning to ask the same question.

And it went on like this for weeks.

Normally Ai would be able to handle this. All she had to do was say a simple no. But Kudo's resolve strengthened everyday; as time passed the meek question almost became a demand, and the length of the conversation grew as it slowly turned into an argument. Where it had been a quick ordeal earlier it was now a heated debate.

And those blue eyes of his. Those deep, blue eyes which conveyed a sense of urgency and necessity beyond what his words could…

Ai was already stressed as it was with finding the real antidote. The late nights she spent working were taking their toll on her, and it certainly didn't help that she never really sat down and simply relaxed. The ever increasing pressure from Kudo to give him the fake antidote wasn't helping either. She was being pressed to her mental limits.

Her mask was bound to crack sooner or later.

Only, it happened sooner. Sooner than she thought.

-

>>>>>>>>>>>

-

She was tired. Dead tired. The little girl had been sitting there, typing, for a little more than 14 hours straight (if she remembered correctly), enclosed in the darkness of the basement. She had long since lost track of how long she had been without sleep. Dark rings encircled her eyes; with her hair more than tousled, she looked as if she hadn't taken a shower or even changed clothes in days. But that wouldn't be too far from the truth. She had even skipped dinner today to continue working, much to the disappointment of Agasa. She couldn't help it though. The only solace from pressure and guilt she could find recently was the making of the antidote of the poison that plagued both her and Kudo. Each day, she spent more time in front of the keyboard, just typing away; her fingers literally dancing across the keyboard energetically in stark contrast to the increasingly tired look the rest of her had.

The door squeaked open behind her.

"Ai?"

She stopped typing. Light poured into the room from the open door, overpowering the luminescence of the computer screen. Ai squinted, used to the normal darkness of her lab. But she didn't need to turn around to see who the unexpected (and unwelcome) visitor was.

_'Damn... not now...'_

"Kudo."

Her icy voice sounded tired, weary of the continual work that her life was. Though Conan couldn't see it, her eyes were also dull, lacking the normal sharpness they normally had. The last few weeks came down hard on Haibara, and it really was showing. It had been a long time since she last took a break from her research, and anytime she wasn't in front of the computer she was subject to Conan, who would constantly remind her of the antidote (not intentionally of course; just looking at him could make her feel slightly guilty). There's no rest for the wicked, and Haibara was no exception.

Conan closed the door behind him, plunging the room back into the darkness that Ai so often hid in, the only light coming from the computer. Silence followed. They both knew why he had come. They each waited for the other, waiting for the first move to be made. The tension was palpable, and even though she wasn't looking at him Haibara could feel Conan's intent gaze bore into the back of her head, channeling all his will through that look. It was an unspoken challenge, simply waiting for her to take the bait. And yet, for such a forceful attitude, she detected no anger from him. Just diligence, necessity and a sense of inevitability, that somehow she had prolonged this confrontation for too long and it had to be done now.

Yes, something had to be done. It had to end here.

"Why?" She murmured, barely audible, still not looking at him. Conan perked up in response, his quiet breathing quickening. "Why..." She continued, "do you want to take the antidote so badly?"

"Because," he responded, eyes unwavering from the silhouette that her frame made in front of the computer screen, "the last time I was Shinichi I turned back too quickly. I didn't get to tell Ran everything I wanted to. I just want a second time, to finish what I started."

"If you want to talk to her so badly, why don't you just use the phone?" Ai retorted, her words speeding up, emotions poking holes through her deteriorating mask.

"It wouldn't be the same." Conan spoke back, still calm and even-toned. "I need to talk to her in person. I-"

"What can you possibly tell her that you can't say over the phone?"

"The most important thing..." Conan murmured softly, almost to himself.

The chair squeaked as it swiveled around; Haibara finally turned and looked at him in the eyes, returning his stare with whatever energy she could muster. "And what about Them? What if they see you? You're putting everyone in danger for no good reason!" Anger started trickling into her voice.

"They won't see me; I'll be careful." He reassured her with such confidence that Ai, against her better judgment, couldn't help but believe him.

"But..." She said, her voice slowly edging to desperation, "... but there's a chance that you'll die from taking the antidote! What good would it do if you died before-"

"I'll just have to take that chance." He broke her off. He made no more effort to continue talking; the confrontation now lay entirely within the eye contact of the two 'children'.

For the first time, Haibara felt the urge to give in to Conan. She was tired of his relentless pestering, and chances were that he wouldn't be found by the Organization. It might also provide a good chance to get some experimental data on the temporary antidote and possibly advance her research. On the other hand, she knew she couldn't say yes. She needed to say no, she had to for their safety. For Conan's sake. But those deep, blue eyes of his stopped the words in her throat, keeping her from saying what she needed to. His eyes contained endless drive; they seemed to stare into Haibara's soul and question if she had the right to stop him from doing what he knew he had to do.

And yet, at the same time, as she stared into his eyes, she sensed inside him another force. A quiet, desperate plea, begging her for one more chance to be with the person he lived for. Ai found herself quite confused, looking into a face full of determination only to see the emotions behind the mask completely opposite, his eyes the only portal to the pain he felt. Those eyes...

"Tomorrow." She found herself saying rather shakily, "I'll give it to you tomorrow."

The girl felt her stomach flip in surprise. _'Wait. Did I just say that?'_ She asked herself, almost unsure that it was her who spoke. '_I... I should've said no! I needed to say no! Why did... did I..._' Fatigue, although it had already announced its presence, took a stronger hold of the girl; she felt her mind slow considerably. _'I said yes... but I should've said no...'_ She cradled her head in her hand, still confused with what happened.

"Thanks." The boy said with almost impolite ungratefulness, as if he expected this result the entire time. He quietly opened the door (once again making Haibara wince at the light), but turned back to her instead of leaving. "Haibara?"

"Yes?"

"Get some sleep. You look like you really need it." Concern graced his voice; was he actually worried about her?

... and he slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him. And then the girl was left alone in the dark to sort out her thoughts. That was, **if** she could think well enough to do that. She tried to return to her work, but she just couldn't keep her mind on track. It seemed that all those hours spent avoiding sleep were finally catching up to her. Sighing, she hopped down from the chair and walked to the door. _'Can't concentrate on this anymore... might as well take Kudo's advice.'_ Wearily she opened the door and scaled the steps in front of her (of course, only after blinking several times to get used to the light. _'Ouch. Stupid lights...'_).

At the top, after she rounded the corner, she noticed she had trouble seeing straight; objects kept sliding in and out of focus on her. _'But I shouldn't be this tired. I've only been up for... um..._' Ai's brain decided to shut down at that time, and she knew that she was ready to fall asleep on the spot. _'...couch'll be fine...'_ She thought to herself through all the fog forming in her mind. She crawled onto the couch and laid down, using her own hands as a pillow.

It felt so good, to let everything slip away and just slumber peacefully. '..._Why didn't I want to go to sleep earlier? ...I guess it doesn't really matter.'_ Her breathing steadied and her body relaxed, the tension just melting off her body.

But before the girl could fall asleep, she felt strong arms pick her up from the couch. They held her close to the owner of the arms, and she could feel the warmth and care radiate off the person who carried her. Involuntarily she snuggled closer, feeling a strange cloudy sense of content. She distantly wondered who was carrying her. Maybe it was Conan; that was a warming thought. It might also be Agasa...

But that thought slipped away as the little girl fell asleep, dreaming in the comforting arms of whoever was carrying her.

-

>>>>>>>>>>>

-

The next morning Haibara Ai awoke in her bed, in a better mood than she had been in weeks. She could not say why, but she felt very optimistic and cheery, quite unusual for her.

Of course that was until Conan barged in and reminded her that she told him he could take another temporary antidote. That earned him a glare and a scowl, and Haibara switched back to her usual unsociable self.

Since then nearly a whole day had passed; Edogawa Conan had safely became Kudo Shinichi and promptly left to visit Ran. Haibara, ever the pessimist, had told him, "Don't draw too much attention", to which his reply was "Haibara, you worry too much". She shot him a death glare, but it wasn't near as effective as usual due to the fact it came from beneath Shinichi's waist rather than eye-level.

And now Haibara awaited Kudo's return to the Agasa Residence before he turned back into Conan. And since she was waiting, she might as well tend to the matter of the real antidote. Once more she was engaged in the common task of sitting in the dark of the lab, searching for the answer to her (and Shinichi's) predicament. Although she appeared to be engrossed in typing, her mind was on a completely different matter.

_'Why did I say yes?'_ She asked herself for what seemed the umpteenth time. _'I was going to say no. Kudo wasn't pressuring me too hard either. What could've made me say yes?_' Brooding, she stopped typing and absentmindedly stared into the computer screen. _'Could I really have been that tired?'_ Ai could admit that she wasn't thinking straight from lack of sleep, but it didn't seem enough to affect such an important decision. But then again, she countered, she had immediately fallen asleep afterwards. The girl riffled through her hair with her fingers, trying to sort out her thoughts.

_'This is getting nowhere. There's no use crying over spilt milk.'_ She reasoned with herself, and got out of the chair. _'Maybe Kudo came back already.'_ She wandered over to the door, and opened it.

"-I see everything went well Shinichi?" Agasa's voice sounded through the house, full of curiosity.

A carefree laugh arose, accompanied by "Well, you could say that." This voice was Shinichi's, and one that Ai had not heard too often before.

The girl froze; she could use this situation to her advantage. Silently, she closed the door behind her and climbed the steps, taking care not to make too much noise. At the top, she pressed herself against the wall, and waited.

She had been in situations like this before. The top of the stairs had an extended wall that separated it from the living room, making it the perfect spot to hide behind and listen in on people without being noticed. It was especially useful since Shinichi and Agasa had the annoying tendency to filter anything they said when talking to her. Haibara had no illusions as to what they thought of her; she had heard them say it themselves. They both took her to be putting on a tough act on the outside, to be weaker than she seemed. But Ai knew they were wrong. When one lives in the Black Organization, they either learn to be strong or die.

She wondered if she should be feeling guilty for listening in on them like this, but she pushed that thought aside. If she came out and joined in the conversation, it was likely that she wouldn't get as much information if she stayed put. Especially with the Black Organization; if Kudo _was_ spotted, he might not tell Haibara Ai to keep her from getting scared, but he could and would tell his age-old friend Professor Agasa.

A murmured "Thanks for the tea" and the sound of a cup being set on a table relocated Ai's thoughts to her 'prey'. She unconsciously edged closer to the end of the wall.

"So are you going to tell me how it went?" Agasa's anxious tones were the next ones heard.

"Calm down professor." Shinichi laughed, lightly mocking the old man, "I haven't finished my tea yet."

"So where did you go?" Agasa asked eagerly.

"To that restaurant we went to last time. Did I tell you which one that was?"

"Yes, you did. Wouldn't Ran think that as a bit strange?"

"She did, but I told her that I wanted to finish that first date." Agasa chuckled a bit at that statement.

"So, did you have the same food as last time as well?" He asked with a snigger.

Ai sighed; the way the conversation was going, there hadn't been anything going on. Shinichi didn't sound worried at all and right now they were just chatting like old friends. _'I should probably just walk in on them._' She reasoned, _'The longer I stay here, the more chance they'll find me listening in on their conversation. I could probably convince them I just came out of the lab if I go now._' The girl rose to her feet, and took a step...

"Did you ask her?"

She paused; Agasa spoke almost under his breath, itching with anticipation. The two had switched to a more serious topic apparently, and Haibara definitely didn't want to miss this. She settled back down, resigning to another wait.

"Well... yeah, I did."

"And?"

"Come on Shinichi! Stop teasing an old man and tell me already!"

"... she said yes."

"That's great! Congratulations Shinichi!"

"Thanks. I'm just worried about getting back to her now though."

"Well, you won't have to worry about how long she has to wait now that you two are engaged!"

Engaged. The words rolled over Haibara. Shinichi and Ran. Engaged. She felt her world pause, her heart stopping cold. She wasn't listening to the two jocular voices anymore; Conan, no, Shinichi had proposed to Ran, and she had accepted. _'So that's why he wanted to see her so badly...'_ She numbly noted.

She slid down the wall to a sitting position. This was a bit much for her to handle. He had always shown affection towards Mouri-chan, but she never thought he'd go this far so quickly. The girl hadn't felt this terrible since she found out that her sister had been killed. But why was she getting worked up over it? She had more important things to worry about like the Black Organization and the antidote.

_'Why am I so worried about this?'_ She asked herself unsurely, becoming self-aware about how much it was affecting her. '_It was obvious how they felt for each other; they were bound to get engaged sooner or later. I don't need to be so surprised._' It felt strange to Haibara to have such strong emotions, especially over something as little as this.

Slowly she pulled herself to her feet. Now would probably be a good time to join their conversation. She could use a distraction. With a little effort, she pulled her face back into an indifferent position.

It didn't stop her from feeling like her future had shattered in front of her.

"So you're back." Ai said, walking into view of the two talkers, her countenance as calm as it had always been.

"Ah, there you are Ai!" Agasa said with a smile, "Shinichi just got here a few minutes ago. We were just talking about his date with Ran when you came."

"Ah, I see." Haibara said, not letting her face show what she was thinking. "And did anything significant happen?"

Agasa opened his mouth to reply, but Shinichi beat him to it, saying, "No, nothing happened. I wasn't seen by Them, or anything like that." Agasa shot him a poorly-concealed puzzled look, but the teenage sleuth played a cool poker face and ignored the old man.

_'I see.'_ Haibara thought. _'So he's keeping it from me. Does he think I'll be upset? It doesn't matter anyways._' She dismissed the thought, ignoring what her heart was telling her.

"Here, let me get you some tea." The professor said after a few moments of silence, giving an excuse for Shinichi and Ai to have a more, er, personal conversation, and went to the kitchen. The two still in the room sat unmoving, conserving an awkward silence.

"So, should we be doing something, since we don't know exactly when you'll change back?" The girl asked, almost a bit unsure of how to proceed.

Shinichi chuckled, a light-hearted, innocent laugh. "I'm not really sure." He admitted. "It seems a bit unreal; waiting casually until I shrink again." His eyes flashed darkly at that, full of pain and regrets. "I... I never asked to be like this. To keep Ran waiting for so long, to lie to her every day. It's just... it gets harder to keep it up every day. And to have a day like this, when I can forget all that and just be myself... it's like nothing else. I really appreciate you giving me this chance. Thank you Haibara."

"Don't mention it. Seriously." Haibara did not look one bit flattered. "If I had my way, you would never have had this second chance." He still looked grateful even after Ai's cold response.

Shinichi started to reply, but instead winced and gasped painfully. He clutched at his heart and started breathing heavily. Haibara understood immediately and calmly shouted, "Professor, it's starting."

"Already?" Agasa came running out of the kitchen, completely forgetting Ai's tea over the more important crisis. The portly old man hesitantly stood next to the couch Shinichi was sitting on. "Uh, what can we do to help Shinichi?" He asked, embarrassed that he didn't know how to help his hurting friend.

"We need to get him to an open space, away from any obstructions." She said, sounding professional. "Help him get on the ground over there." She indicated with a pointed finger.

"Right." Agasa slung Shinichi's arm around his shoulders and helped him stagger to where Haibara wanted him. But the detective was in too much pain, and collapsed about halfway there. The old man made to help him back up, but stopped after Ai told him not to.

"That's far enough." She assured him, bending down to examine Shinichi. He was clenching his teeth and bent over in pain, and he was also sweating, so the antidote was working fine. But one thing she couldn't get out of her mind was the speed the pain had intensified. It shouldn't have progressed this fast. But he was fine otherwise, so Ai pushed it out of her mind. She'd have time to muse about it later.

The slightest tendrils of smoke began to rise from the teenager's body, signaling the beginning of the transformation. The young girl backed off immediately, commenting, "Give him his space." Agasa took the advice without question.

Shinichi started squirming on the floor, the pain quite obvious. Already his form was slightly smaller than it originally was, and it was visibly decreasing. It is an interesting spectacle, Haibara had to admit, to watch someone being shrunk. It was fascinating to see something so... unnatural occur, as if it represented man's battle against nature's original intent. To see a human fight against the flows of time and reject the natural laws of the world... it was something of an inspiration to the girl.

Shinichi could no longer suppress his screams, and they came loose now, strained in his now-child's voice. He was hurting so bad now, one could've mistaken his wild thrashing for death-throes. To all appearances, it seemed that he was melting into the floor, slowly being enveloped by the now-too-big clothes he wore. But now the smoke was wearing off and he wasn't shrinking as much. _'Strange,'_ Ai thought, _'it's already ending. It should've taken another ten or twenty seconds.'_

Then, just as sudden as the struggle started, he stopped moving, his screams immediately silenced. The Agasa household reigned in silence as the last wisps rose from Shinichi's... no, Conan's body. Ai studied the boy carefully. Ai's first analysis was that he had finished the transformation, but something seemed strange about the way he had simply quit thrashing...

Maybe...

A cold wave of fear washed through the small girl; she practically leapt forward to the slumped boy, more energetic than she had been in a long time. Her hands shook desperately as she sought out the boy's face in his oversized clothes. Agasa stepped up behind her, a little more than concerned by Ai's behavior. "What's wrong?" He asked, worried, but he got no response. The girl was too frightened to pay attention to him. There; she had found his face (somehow he had managed to get horribly tangled in his clothes in his writhing, making Ai's work difficult), and she moved her hands more south on his body. Locating the neck, she firmly placed two fingers against it, hoping against hopes that...

...no pulse.

Once again, Ai froze to the spot, oblivious to the professor's "What's wrong?". The stress from the transformation, the number of times he had changed in the past, it had all placed a terrible burden on a 7 year old's body, and now it had finally broke the limit. His heart stopped pumping from the immense strain it was under.

Kudo Shinichi was dead.

Ai stared blankly, unable to think of anything else. All the time they had spent together, all his hopes and dreams, all of it gone. The days she spent on the antidote so he could become Shinichi again, wasted. Ran would never get the marriage she had so graciously accepted. And, most ironically, after all the times he had sworn he would protect her with his life, she stood over him now as his murderer. And worse yet, there was nothing she could do.

But she had to do something, no matter how little hope there was left. Someone very important to her had died once, and she wasn't going to let that happen to her again...

_'Akemi...'_

Her hands went to work without thinking. They moved further down, to the middle of his chest, and started pumping it at what she thought to be a regular heart rate. She had heard stories of people who did this, people who would save lives by administering CPR. Granted that was only as much as she knew; the Black Organization wasn't interested in saving lives so she never had the opportunity (nor the inclination she admitted) to learn it. But she could remember something about recirculating oxygen through the blood, and helping the heart get the blood flowing.

Oh, right. He couldn't circulate oxygen if he wasn't breathing any oxygen. She positioned herself over him and, after a bit of wondering just how exactly she was supposed to do this, opened his mouth and clumsily put her mouth to his and blew hard. She could feel his chest rising, but it stopped before it came to about where a full breath would be. Damn, her child-sized diaphragm wasn't strong enough to push any more air in. She'd just have to move on.

She went back to pressing his chest, but a thought kept nagging her. Why was she trying to save him? He was already dead, and she was sure that her amateur attempts to bring him back would fail. So why did she keep trying? It wasn't like she loved him-

-and yet, in her heart she knew that to be a lie, even more false than the name Haibara Ai she hid behind.

_'No, I can't love him! The Organization taught me to be above attachment! I don't love him!_' But, try as she did, she just couldn't convince herself. _'Even if I do love him, he can't love me. He's engaged with Ran.'_ She reinforced her thoughts, managing to overthrow her heart in the struggle to control her feelings. _'I just want him to live! I can't let him die on me like... like how Akemi died._' When Akemi was murdered Miyano Shiho had been depressed enough to try to kill herself, but ended up as Haibara Ai instead, granted a second life. If Conan died as well, she might just succeed in killing herself this time...

She redoubled her efforts, trying so hard to push life back into this boy. But to no avail; he looked as dead as when she started. But she had to keep trying, she had to! She moved back up to his mouth and breathed some more air into him-

- when Conan's own diaphragm started working, coughing back up into Haibara's mouth. She leapt back, shocked, and watched as he coughed violently, his body struggling to catch its breath. Ai couldn't believe it. He was breathing, which was proof enough that he had regained a pulse. Somehow, she had managed to resuscitate him.

She normally didn't believe in miracles, but she'd have to make an exception for this case.

Presently the boy was weakly breathing, his eyes just a crack open. He slowly turned his head and locked his unfocused gaze on the girl. "A...Ai?" He slowly murmured, "What happened?" It was almost inaudible how softly he was speaking.

Ai couldn't find anything to say, and found herself looking down at the carpeted floor. "Hey..." The boy started again, in a slightly stronger voice, "... you're crying..."

She looked up at him, surprised. She didn't notice before, but there were silent tears making their way down her face. The tears weren't fresh though; she had been crying for a while now. "I..." The girl started, faltering to find words, "... I thought you were going to leave me... like... like Neechan..."

At that point, she couldn't hold it in any longer, and embraced Conan tightly, sobbing into his chest. Conan seemed startled, but he put his hand on her back to help comfort her.

"Don't worry," he quietly assured her, "I'm not going anywhere."

Professor Agasa, who had so far been completely ignored by the two, sat down on the floor and sighed, relieved. He had been scared to death when he realized Conan wasn't simply unconscious, but it had all turned out alright. He had frantically offered his help to Ai earlier, but the girl ignored him, solely concentrating on Conan with tears running down her cheeks.

But it truly was a miracle. In most cases, CPR doesn't bring a person back to life, even when administered perfectly. And, judging by the way Ai was doing it, she had never done it before. He'd have to teach her someday how to do it properly. Yeah, she'd like that.

Agasa picked himself up from the ground and made his way to the kitchen to make some more tea. They would probably appreciate it after the initial shock of what happened wore off. He was aware of how small of a difference the tea might make, but he brushed it off.

In fact, it seemed like he never really did anything of great importance for those two; his biggest responsibility was taking care of Ai, who preferred to do things herself and didn't need the professor to look after her all the time. Even when they would go and chase the men in black, he'd always stay behind as the backup and never take an active role in the action.

But that was the way Agasa liked it; he couldn't imagine handling all the stress that those two 'children' had to live with everyday. They had to worry about keeping their identities a secret whenever they weren't alone or at his house, which was almost all the time for Conan. The old professor preferred to spend his days cooking meals for Ai and living an easy life.

He took a peak into the living room; they were still holding on to each other, off in their own world. Haibara had stopped crying, but not much else had changed. Agasa momentarily forgot about Conan's brush with death and noticed how nice they looked together. Almost like brother and sister...

The old man sighed and returned to the kitchen. He'd have to hurry with that tea. Those two might've looked like they could've stayed like that in each others arms for forever, but that wouldn't happen. The world never worked like that. They'd drift back to reality and leave the comfort of their embrace sooner or later. And he would have to be there ready to help them in any way he could, like he always was.

-

>>>>>>>>>>>

-

Continuous clicking filled the dark room. Ai's eyes quickly scanned the data displayed on the screen, almost absorbing the information from the computer. The computer lit up the room with a dull blue tint, giving a sense of quiet tranquility to the make-shift lab.

Only one day had passed and Haibara Ai was back in the basement working on the antidote like she always was. Nothing else really important happened that day; they made Conan go to the hospital for a checkup, just to make sure he was alright (he complained for a while, but Agasa eventually convinced him). And since she was left at home alone with nothing better to do, she went to work at cracking that chemical code she had been trying to solve for months now.

It had been maybe a few hours since they returned. Apparently the hospital had claimed Conan to be in good shape, other than being a little low on energy (and a little short for his age; Agasa got a laugh out of that one). It seemed everything quieted down again.

Needless to say, that was the** last **time she'd give him a temporary antidote. In fact, she wasn't even sure he'd live through the real antidote now.

Once again the door opened and she blinked at the light's intrusion. But this time the guest flicked on the light switch, drowning the room in light. "You know, you'll hurt your eyes if you keep working in the dark like that." Said a familiar voice.

"Kudo." She replied. "Are you back for another antidote?" She asked him with just enough sarcasm to make him wonder if she meant it.

"N-no!" He hastily blurted out, obviously uncomfortable. She didn't reply, so another familiar silence overtook them.

"Listen, Ai." Conan started after a bit, "I didn't tell you everything I should've told you yesterday. The reason I wanted to take that antidote was to-"

"No need to explain Kudo. I already know." She calmly stated, eyes not leaving the computer screen.

"Wha-? Did Agasa tell you?" His voice sounded shocked.

She swiveled the chair around and met him with a taunting smile. "I have my ways of getting information." She tantalized him, enjoying herself.

"Uh... anyways," he continued, "Thanks for yesterday. If you didn't save me then I'd be dead and Ran would be... well, you know."

Ai felt slightly discomforted with the mention of Ran. "Don't look too far into it." She muttered, pushing the matter aside.

"How can't I?" He argued, "Ai, you saved my life!"

"Is that all you wanted to say?" She asked him, tiring of the conversation. "I'd like to get back to work on the antidote."

"Yeah, that's it." He said, letting Haibara turn back to the computer and continue typing. "You... you do know that I appreciate everything that you're doing for me, don't you?" He asked her.

"Yeah." Although it was a short answer, she put in enough emphasis for him to know she meant it.

"Okay." He sounded a little downhearted. "Wait Kudo." She called out, wanting to catch him before he left. "Can you turn off that light? It's awfully bright." She kept typing, more intent on her work than the boy.

He chuckled behind her. "No, I think you could do with a bit more light. You've been in the darkness for too long." And with that, he left the basement and closed the door behind him.

How annoying. That boy really was a pain. But she was lying. The light didn't bother her that badly. _'It really doesn't matter. I just want to get this antidote done soon and get him back to his normal life.'_ It seemed like that was the only thing he wanted at times; to go back to his old school, to live in his house, to finally have that wedding with Ran...

_'But it's ok the way it is right now._' She realized with a grin, '_I can live like this for a little longer. Just a little.'_ And she found that for the rest of the day (much to her annoyance) that she couldn't wipe that silly smile off her face.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Well, what'd'ya think? You hate it? You love it? Whatever you feel, just be sure to REVIEW! It really lifts my self-confidence when somebody tells me anything. 


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